1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates in general to the construction of firearms and cartridge holders and, in particular, to a new and useful firearm construction and to a cartridge holder which comprises a flat plate having a plurality of bores containing individual cartridge holding elements which have a recess on their inner face which receives the propelling charge and projectile and an opposite face which defines a priming chamber which is connected through a passage to the front face and which also carries a propelling charge on the front face with a central projectile which is seated in a cartridge sealing sleeve which surrounds the bore of each barrel.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
The present invention is particularly applicable for use with firearms, particularly a short hand firearm, which is recharged simultaneously with a plurality of cartridges which are all introduced into a drum-like or disc-like housing. The cartridge holder is adapted to be fitted into a chamber of the firearm which opens along a parting slit line approximately diagonally, and the cartridge holder includes a centering bore for positioning it on a boss of the magazine chamber in order that the individual cartridges will be centered in respect to the various rifle bores.
The known constructions includes particularly a short hand firearm which operates preferably with caseless cartridges, as well as a device for carrying out the charging of the firearm. The device comprises a substantially ring-shape or disc-shape body which serves to receive a plurality of caseless cartridges. On both of its ends, the body is hermetically closed by covers which conform to its outline. When the drum-like magazine of the firearm is to be recharged, first the two covers are removed from the body receiving the caseless ammunition. One of these covers is provided with a plurality of hollow cylindrical stubs corresponding to the number of cartridges. By means of the hollow cylindrical stubs, all of the caseless cartridges which are seated and slightly clamped in the individual bores of the ring- or disc-shape body, are simultaneously introduced into the magazine of the firearm. With this known device, the recharging is effected relatively quickly After charging, the ring- or disc-shape body, as well as the covers which initially close the same, are thrown away at the place of action.
In order to prevent such losses of material, which in action may amount to a considerable extent, there has been proposed that the circumferentially arranged bores in the disc-shape holder be designed in the form of cartridge cases in which both the charges and the projectiles are directly placed. Bushes, sleeves, or similar arrangements are provided for sealing the barrel and the cartridge seat and also for compensating for the diameter differences between the projectiles and the respective charges.
A drum in which the cartridges of this kind are received can be inserted into a correspondingly designed magazine of the firearm without using any auxiliary means, such as, for example, covers which are provided with hollow cylinder stubs. Because of its rechargeability, the ring- or disc-shape body is not thrown away at the place of action. However, the recharging is somewhat expensive, quite aside from the fact that for constructional reasons, the ring- or disc-shape body can receive only a relatively limited number of cartridges which is undesirable in action.